User data notification in a mobile communications system

ABSTRACT

Data stored about user equipment, such as mobile phones, that is stored in a Home Location Register of at least one wireless, cellular voice network communications system configured, for example, as a 3G network deployment, is augmented with supplemental information and is communicated automatically to active users in the network. The invention is particularly advantageous for mobile systems that are deployable where normal networks have been disrupted, such as among emergency personnel who need to communicate and cooperate as a group at a disaster scene. Supplemental information includes, for example, the identity of a user or device that has entered or exited the network, the function, position, rank, responsibility level, etc., that each user has, and what group the user is affiliated with.

This application is the U.S. national phase of International ApplicationNo. PCT/EP2007/059730, filed 14 Sep. 2007, which designated the U.S.,the entire contents of each of which is hereby incorporated byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention involves mobile communications systems and in particulara system and method relating to processing of information regardingactive users.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communication devices are seemingly everywhere. Indeed, one wouldbe hard-pressed to spend much time in any urban area of the world beforeseeing people speaking on mobile phones, or being paged, or sending textmessages or electronic mail or accessing the Internet using a “personaldigital assistant,” or otherwise accessing some form of communicationsnetwork.

The complicated and coordinated systems that make these communicationspossible are, however, so generally reliable that most users in highlyindustrialized countries take their availability for granted. Indeed,most users are made aware of the sophisticated infrastructure behindsuch systems only on infrequent occasions, for example, when theirmobile phone connection is lost in an area of poor coverage, or inboundary zones between cells, or they cannot connect at all because ofan unusually high temporary load on the system.

Of course, reality sometimes drastically disrupts such complacency.Disasters, both natural and human-caused, often disable thecommunications networks many rely on. For example, mobile and fixedtelephone systems are often either overloaded or disabled altogether inareas hit by earthquakes, floods, terrorist attacks, etc. Furthermore,other users, such as military personnel in the field, may not haveaccess to the local communications network at all, or may not want tohave to rely on vulnerable links to satellite ground stations.

As distressing as system disruption may often be for civilians inaffected areas, it often also hinders the ability of emergency personnelto operate most effectively, which may make matters even worse. Aware ofthis, several companies and authorities have developed both equipmentand standards for secondary, often mobile networks that aresubstantially self-reliant and can be deployed rapidly and areparticularly suited for enabling communication between members of agroup who need to coordinate work on a common task.

As just one example, in the aftermath of the destruction of New Orleansin the USA in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, normal access was impossible toprimary telecommunications systems such as fixed and mobile telephoneservices, the Internet, etc. In response, the Sweden-basedtelecommunications company Ericsson made a transportable, cellular,wireless, voice network system available to various United Statesauthorities to enable voice and data communication between a wide arrayof disparate agencies operating in New Orleans, including local police,fire-fighters, the Forest Service, and security personnel, to name justa few.

In disaster or other emergency situations, there will usually be someneed to prioritize access to the limited resource that such mobilesystems represents. For example, each Ericsson system deployed in NewOrleans had an operational radius of only about 14 km and could handlefewer than 100 active users at a time. More modern versions have greaterrange and capacity, but this range and capacity are still much lessthan, for example, a typical fixed or even mobile telephone network canprovide, and some prioritization is still often beneficial or necessary.One example of prioritization might be, in descending order of priority:executive leadership and policy makers; disaster response and militarycommand and control; public health, safety and law enforcement command;public services, utilities and public welfare; and disaster recovery.

Of course, the prioritization scheme—if any is implemented at all—willdepend on the situation. Regardless of the scheme, however, in anyhighly stressful situation, not knowing whom one can or cannot call canhave serious or at best undesirable consequences. An additionalcomplication is that, in circumstances such as disasters, in battlezones, etc., the various members of the group who need to communicatewith each will often not be known to each other in advance, but toestablish communications between two members of the group using mobiletelephones, at least the telephone numbers must be known.

Moreover, the roles that persons are carrying out, or their positions insome hierarchy of authority or prioritization, may be as important oreven more important than who they are. For example, knowing that aparticular mobile phone is associated with a paramedic as opposed to afire fighter, police officer, search specialist, etc., or with adivision commander as opposed to a line officer, will often be moreimportant than knowing their names.

One way to provide the necessary information to the various members ofthe group would be to have some external information service that couldprovide contact information to interested parties. Even if it werepossible to set up such a service in the event of disruption ofestablished primary networks, however, relaying the retrieved contactinformation would still cause a delay that might be unacceptable foremergency efforts on the ground. Moreover, in the field of mobiletelephony operating according to, for example, the Global System forMobile (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)standards, typically only the priority class of the mobile phone itselfis stored in the network in conjunction with its International MobileSubscriber Identity (IMSI), which is a unique number associated with thenetwork mobile phone users—the IMSI is stored in the Subscriber IdentityModule (SIM) in the phone and is transmitted by the phone to thenetwork. This will normally not be enough information for, for example,relevant emergency personnel.

SUMMARY

The invention provides a wireless, cellular voice network and relatedmethod of operation including at least one communications system and aplurality of user equipment (UE) devices, each of which is connected toa respective one of the communications systems. Each communicationssystem provides communication between the UE devices and includes aservice node, for example a Serving GPRS Support Node in a GSM-based or3G network, that stores data relating to an identity and a location ofeach UE device actively connected to the respective communicationssystem. Each system includes a register that stores primary informationabout each UE device actively connected to the system.

A supplemental information system is included that receives supplementaldata concerning each UE device actively connected to the one or morecommunications systems; causes the register to store and augment theprimary information about each UE device actively connected to thesystem with the supplemental data about each actively connected UEdevice; and automatically communicates the supplemental data stored inthe register, or any changes in the supplemental data, to the activelyconnected UE devices.

The communications systems may be configured according to the GlobalSystem for Mobile (GSM) standard, the General Packet Radio Services(GPRS), the 3G or the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)standard. The register in such cases is a Home Location Register (HLR)and the UE devices are mobile telephones.

The supplemental data indicates, for example, entry into or exit fromthe network of any of the UE devices, or a role performed by a user ofeach UE device, or both, or any other desired secondary information thatis useful in the situation in which the invention is deployed.

The communications system(s) may be transportable, distributed,cellular, wireless, WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access),self-contained, autonomous voice network systems that may furthermore beoperationally independent of but configured to access and communicateover a Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN), or an Internet ProtocolWide-Area Network (IP WAN), or both. The embodiment of the inventionprimarily described is therefore particularly advantageous to providecommunications especially between a well-defined community of users (forexample, fire fighters, rescue workers, police officers, etc.) in suchsituations as natural disasters, war zones, remote operations, etc.,where normal communications systems may be inaccessible.

A supplemental information system with which each of the communicationssystems is configured to communicate may also be provided to acquire thesupplemental data from any of the communications systems and propagateit to the other communications systems for inclusion in their respectiveregisters.

As one aspect of the invention, the HLR itself is modified so as tostore and coordinate collection and dissemination of the supplementalinformation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates some of the main system components of one example ofa system architecture suitable for implementing the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a connected group of communications systems, eachconfigured generally as the system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates an information flow between various system componentswhen a new user enters the network.

FIG. 4 illustrates user data exchange between various members of anetworked community of communications systems.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to modifications to a mobile telephone networkthat make it particularly well-suited for use in situations where thepublic network has been disabled. The invention is therefore describedbelow primarily in the context of an architecture for a distributed,cellular, wireless, self-contained, autonomous voice network system, oneexample of which is the transportable, WCDMA (Wideband Code DivisionMultiple Access) currently marketed under the name QuicLINK by Ericsson,Inc. This is merely by way of example. The principles of the inventiondo not require this particular system and the invention is not limitedto use in disasters or combat zones; those skilled in the design ofmobile telephone networks will realize how to adapt what is describedhere for use with analogous systems and for use in different types ofsituations.

FIG. 1 illustrates some of the main components of a system architecturethat may implement the various aspects of this invention. Theillustrated architecture corresponds at least approximately to theQuicLINK architecture. As those skilled in mobile networking technologywill recognize, most of the illustrated components are found in othersystems, including, but not limited to, GSM systems, GPRS (GeneralPacket Radio Services) systems, UMTS (Universal MobileTelecommunications System) systems (one of the so-called 3G, that is,third-generation mobile systems), etc. The changes in structure oroperation of the components that are modified as described below toimplement this invention may be applied in such other systems as well,or in any other systems that have analogous components. The invention isdescribed with reference to the architecture shown in FIG. 1 by way ofillustration only.

One feature of a communications system that is particularly advantageousin emergency situations is that it will typically not require thecomplexity of a “normal,” full-scale mobile telephony network; as is thecase with, for example, QuicLink systems, they will generally have areduced footprint and less capacity compared with, for example, astandard 3G network deployment. One advantage of this reduction,however, is that it may also enable the main system components to beparts of a single communications system 100, which may be made easilytransportable to the places where the unit is needed; indeed, onemilitary version (CDMA2000 R1 Version) of a QuicLink system had as itscentral server that weighed no more than about 6.5 kg and was in asingle ruggedized laptop-sized casing that could easily be coupled to anexternal radio node.

The components illustrated in FIG. 1 are generally known in the art andnot all of them are necessary to implement the invention. They aresummarized here, however, for completeness.

User Equipment (UE) 50:

This is any device via which users interact with the rest of the system,either by voice, with non-voice data, or both. In many implementationsof this invention, the UEs 50 will be mobile telephones. The UEs 50 maybe any device that can communicate wirelessly with the communicationssystem 100, however. The UEs need not be handheld, but could, forexample, be fixed in a vehicle or structure, and of course UEs need notbe identical. Below, only one UE is referred to as “the UE 50” merelyfor the sake of simplicity.

External Networks:

Although not all types of network access may be needed in actualsituations in which this invention is used, many spread-spectrum, 3G,mobile telecommunications systems that operate using WCDMA (WidebandCode Division Multiple Access) are capable of accessing different typesof networks. Accordingly, FIG. 1 illustrates an ISDN (Integrated ServiceDigital Network) 60, a Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN) 62, thatis, the “normal” or primary telephone network, and an Internet ProtocolWide-Area Network (IP WAN) 64.

Media Gateway (MGW) 110: As its name implies, the MGW 110 is aninterface component with the various external networks. It also acts asa protocol and data “translator” to allow communication betweendifferent ones of the external networks.

Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) 115:

The SGSN delivers data packets from and to the UEs within itsgeographical service area. Among its several other function are packetrouting and transfer. The SGSN also stores certain information such aswhat cell a given UE is currently in, what the current VLR (see below)is, and user profiles (including IMSI and other network addresses) ofusers currently active in the region of operation of the communicationssystem.

Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) 116:

The GGSN 116 is an interface between a GPRS backbone network andexternal packet data networks such as the IP WAN 64. It converts packetscoming from the SGSN into the appropriate packet data protocol and sendsthem out on the corresponding packet data network. It also convertsaddresses of incoming data packets to the GSM address of the destinationuser; the packets are then sent to the SGSN currently handling thatuser. The GGSN further assigns IP addresses and acts as a default routerfor the UE 50.

Node-B 120:

Node-B is a term used to denote what, in some other systems, is calledthe Base Transceiver Station (BTS), although, unlike in pure GSM basestations, Node-B typically uses WCDMA as its air transport technology.Node-B 120 typically comprises power amplifiers, batteries, one or moreantennas and radio frequency transmitters and the receivers, which formthe direct contact components with the UEs 50, and so on. Typically, UEscannot communicate directly with each other, but rather all suchcommunication takes place via a communications system 100, with theNode-B 120 acting as the hardware gateway.

Radio Network Controller (RNC) 125:

The RNC 125 controls the Node-B 120 and manages the physical wirelessresources (for example, radio frequency hopping, power control, andhandoffs). Depending on the system, the RNC 125 may also be thecomponent that encrypts and decrypts data that passes between the Node-B120 and the UE 50.

Mobile Switching Center Server (MSC-S) 130:

The MSC-S 130 acts as a form of advanced telephone exchange thatprovides network switching functions and GSM services to the mobilephones roaming within the area that it serves, such as voice, data andfax services, as well as well as Short Message Service (SMS) 132, thatis, text messaging and Voice Messaging Service (VMS) 134.

Operation & Management (O&M) module 140:

This component is typically included as an operator-accessible consoleto allow control and monitoring of the rest of the system.

Inter-Protocol 150:

If the communications system 100 is to be coordinated with one or moreothers in a larger framework), then this component may be used to handlethe inter-system communication using any suitably chosen protocol. FIG.2 illustrates, for example, a group of communications systems 100-1, . .. , 100-N, each with its own associated set (which may be empty) ofusers UE-1, . . . , UE-N currently actively associated with it.

Home Location Register (HLR) 160:

The Home Location Register (HLR) is a real-time mobile telecommunicationnode that serves as the primary database repository of subscriberinformation that is used for control and intelligence within GSM/GPRSand WCDMA networks, with analogs in other types of networks. Among themany tasks of the HLR are that it manages mobile subscriber profiles,subscriber location and activity, and handles supplementary services.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the HLR 160 isco-located with the MSC 130. Since the HLR functions essentially as alocal server for other system components, this co-location isadvantageous for systems that are preferably as compact as possible,such as those deployed in disaster areas. Co-location is not required bythis invention, however.

FIG. 1 illustrates some of the components or sub-system that are usuallyincluded in the HLR to perform various types of functions, namely, anadministration component 162, an analysis component 164, a MobileApplication Part 166, and a database 168.

The administration component 162 handles commands given by the operatorto connect mobile station subscribers and definition of theircorresponding subscriber data. This component also may comprise theinterface with an Authentication Center 180 (see below).

The analysis component 164 handles the analysis of mobile stationsubscriber numbers (IMSI into MSISDN, and vice versa.) forwarded-tonumbers and GSM/WCDMA entity addresses.

The Mobile Application Part (MAP) 166 receives messages and makes surethat the appropriate action is taken, for example, to ensure thatmessages are delivered to the proper destination. The MAP may alsoinclude such features as security to ensure that a requested action ispermitted according to pre-stored criteria.

As a primary system data repository, the HLR 160 contains the details ofeach UE 50 that is authorized to use the core network over which thesystem operates, such as the GSM core network. The HRL 160 typicallystores in its data base 168, for example, the details of every SIM cardissued by the mobile telephone phone operator; the HLR records are oftenindexed using IMSIs as a key. The HLR 160 may also store suchinformation as the current VLR and SGSN addresses and locations of eachUE 50 address. The HLR 160 is primarily responsible for managinglocation updates as UEs roam around. In short, the HLR contains andmanages information about the current location of each of its UEs andthe services they are authorized to access. When a UE 50 moves from onelocation area (LA) to another, the HLR 160 retrieves information aboutwhat cell the UE is in and sends data identifying that UE to thecorresponding VLR and/or SGSN when the UE first roams into the new LA.The HLR 160 also sees to it that UE information is removed from a VLRwhen the UE roams out of the LA corresponding to that VLR.

Some of the information typically stored in the HLR in the context ofmobile telephony includes, for each mobile telephone:

-   -   The main Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number (MSISDN) and IMSI of the        device. The MSISDN is what most think of as the “phone number”        and generally has a format such as [CC, NDC, SN], where CC is        the country code (such as 352 for Ireland, 46 for Sweden, etc.),        NDC is the National Destination Code (similar to the “area code”        in the USA, or a domestic regional code such as 031 for the area        of Goteborg in Sweden), and SN is the subscriber's unique.    -   Permanent Subscriber Data such as a password, a Category,        Operator Determined Barring (ODB) data, subscription        information, etc.    -   Supplementary Service Data such as the status of such        Supplementary Service, forwarding information, other passwords,        etc.    -   Location Data such as the VLR address (see below), a Mobile        Station Roaming Number (MSRN), the number to the home system's        MSC 130, the identity of the local MSC, etc

As a controlling node in the overall system, the HLR 160 interfaces withseveral of the other components for certain tasks; typically,communication is via signalling, that is, no speech connections areusually required or established to the HLR. For example, the HLR may beinterrogated for terminating SMS messages or calls and the HLR may usethe SMS component 132 and the MSC 130 to generate an alert when asubscriber is reachable again after an unsuccessful short messagetransfer.

Visitor Location Register (VLR) 170:

The VLR 170 is a temporary database of the users (UEs) that have roamedinto the particular area which it serves. The data stored in the VLR 170is normally input from either the HLR 160 or the MSCS 130. VLR datatypically includes such information as the IMSIs and telephone numbersof the UEs 50 and the HLR address of each UE 50. Note that some systemsmay not need a VLR at all. For example, current configurations of theQuicLINK networking system made by Ericsson do not include or require aVLR; instead, each system has its own HLR and HLR data is maintainedidentical across all QuicLINK systems in a QuicLINK community. Thisinvention can be implemented regardless of whether a VLR is present; theVLR 170 is shown merely for the sake of completeness.

Authentication Center (AUC) 180:

The AUC 180 provides the parameters needed for authentication andencryption functions, which in turn allow verification of thesubscriber's identity. In particular, the AUC 180 authenticates the SIMof each UE 50 that tries to connect to the communications system 100. Ifauthentication is successful, the HLR 160 is allowed to manage the SIMand services associated with the newly connected user. An encryption keymay also then be generated that is used to encrypt all communicationsbetween the UE 50 and, for example, the GSM core network.

Communication between the various components of the communicationssystem 100 shown in FIG. 1 takes places according to protocols that arewell known and are therefore not discussed further here.

Although the various components in FIG. 1 are shown separately,corresponding to their functions, they are not necessarily separatephysical components within the communications system 100 and thefunctions they perform as summarized above may be carried out or sharedby other components instead. For example, the SSGN 115 and GGSN 116 areusually so closely related that they are shown in FIG. 1 as joinedcomponents; in fact, their two functions may in practice be carried outby a single component.

In FIG. 2, an additional network component—a supplemental informationsystem 200—is shown, with which each of the group (which may have anynumber of members, including only a single member) of communicationssystems 100-1, . . . , 100-N may communicate using any common protocol.The supplemental information system 200 may be any system that is ableto acquire (from the communications systems 100-1, . . . , 100-Ndirectly, and/or by input from an operator using any known means) andstore the supplemental information described below, and propagates thisinformation to the communications systems 100-1, . . . , 100-N. In manyapplications, the supplemental information system 200 will be a networkserver, which may be dedicated, allowing it be kept small, robust andportable, or part of a server or system that performs other functions aswell. The only assumption is that some wireless or wired communicationslink can be established between the supplemental information system 200and at least one of the communications systems 100-1, . . . , 100-N.

In FIG. 2, many of the internal components of the communications system100-1 illustrated in FIG. 1 are left out because they are well known anddo not need further explanation for understanding the different aspectsof this invention. Moreover, no internal components of thecommunications system 100-N are shown. This is merely for the sake ofsimplicity. The components of all the communications systems included ina given deployment of the invention can be assumed to be present in andthe same as or equivalent to those of the communications system 100-1.These will of course include the various computer-related hardware suchas processors, bus and network interface devices, power supplies, etc.,as well as volatile and non-volatile storage devices such as memory anddisks that will store, among other information, the code that theprocessor(s) execute to carry out both normal operations and theadditional procedures according to the invention.

According to one of the principles of this invention, at least oneinformation element is introduced, via the supplemental informationsystem 200, into the HLR 160 in addition to those primary informationelements currently stored in the HLR by systems according to the priorart, such as the priority class of the user equipment itself. Theadditional information elements may, for example, be tied to the IMSIand stored as part of the Permanent Subscriber Data normally storedwithin the HLR. Two examples of such supplemental information includethe role of the user of an active UE, and the fact that a particularuser has entered or left the group of active users of UEs associatedwith any of the communications systems 100-1, . . . , 100-N. Recall thatthis group, especially in the situations in which this inventionprovides the most advantage, may be relatively small, with members whoseroles may be more relevant to the situations than their phone numbers.Of course, the principles of this invention may be applied to morewide-spread, less restricted systems as well.

Assume by way of example that the supplemental information includes theroles, or at least the primary roles, of users of the various UEs 50-1,. . . , 50-N, and also some identifier of the group a UE is associatedwith. For the sake of succinctness, the term “role” as used in thisDescription should be understood to mean any relevant characteristicconcerning the function or responsibility of a given user, which mayinclude not only job description (fire fighter, police office,paramedic, helicopter pilot, artillery officer, etc.), but also suchcharacteristics as position (local vs. regional, commander or policymaker as opposed to on-the-scene worker, etc.), rank, or the like. Thedefinition of “role” will depend on the circumstances and may be chosenaccordingly.

By adding this information into the HLR 160, the system will be able todeploy this information to all of the communications systems 100-1, . .. , 100-N connected to the supplemental information system supplementalinformation system 200. For example, Subscriber Role could be added inthe form of a text string (or numerical code, etc., such as FireFighter-1, Police Officer-2, and so on) to the Permanent SubscriberData, and an integer (or text string, etc.) could be added to indicate aSubscriber Emergency Group. This will allow users to establishcommunications with each other based on often more relevant informationthan their phone numbers, such as that one is communicating with aparamedic and not a fire fighter. If the information is communicatedusing, for example, dynamic WAP/HTML pages, then receipt couldefficiently be accessible only by authorized ones of the UEs.

In self-contained, small-scale WCDMA networks such as QuicLINK, servicenodes such as webservers and the like can be connected while running ona standard, even portable computer such as a laptop. Therefore theinformation stored in the HLR can be distributed in a number of ways. Asjust one example, the information could be published on a webpage, whichmay act as the home screen on the UE. As another example, the systemcould send an SMS message to the UEs.

In some cases, for example when emergency personnel arrive at a scene,it may be easiest simply to give each member of the team a respectivededicated UE (such as a mobile phone) that is already configured withthe user's ID, role information, etc., as need and with an updated HLR.As long as the UEs are able to communicate with the central system 100using the proper protocols, then even non-dedicated UEs could be used aswell. Especially in contexts such as where the users are military orsimilarly non-civilian personnel, service phones could also be adaptedso that they would be readily usable with the system according to theinvention while still be usable in normal circumstances over a moregeneral network.

Even in the case of dedicated UEs, it might happen that a UE changesusers. For example, a police officer may give his mobile phone to a firefighter. As user information is stored in the HLR, a simple update ofthe HLR record for the phone would suffice to reflect this change. Then,for example, the new user could send an SMS message to the system 100 inthe normal manner, which could trigger an automatic update of the roleinformation in the HLR.

More or different supplemental data may of course be added to the HLRusing the same mechanism. Moreover, in some contexts, less informationmay be needed. For example, in some contexts, only a given UE user'srole may be of interest, whereas other systems or situations may benefitfrom having the greater level of granularity of having group informationprovided as well. For example, in some situations just knowing that auser is a fire fighter may suffice, but in a large-scale disaster it maybe much more helpful to also know that the fire fighter is in the groupin Sector Northwest.

There are different ways to trigger the provision of the supplementalinformation to the various communications systems 100-1, . . . , 100-N,and thus enter in into the respective HLRs 160. One way is throughdirect operator intervention, for example at a Network Operations Center(NOC)—the NOC tells the relevant part of the system, in particular, thecommunications systems 100-1, . . . , 100-N, that there is a state ofemergency and that Priority access and deployment of emergency numbersshould commence. NOC intervention may be by any known means, such asentering appropriate commands and information into a terminal that isassociated with the supplemental information system 200 or some othersystem accessible to the whole network. All prioritized UEs then receivethe relevant information.

Another way to trigger supplemental information retrieval isautomatic—when an allowed UE connects to any one of the communicationssystems 100-1, . . . , 100-N, the relevant information about the newlyconnected user is automatically provided to all other connected UEs, andinformation about the other UEs is automatically provided to the newlyconnected UE.

Note that this latter automatic triggering option also indicates anothertype of supplemental information that the system can provide, namely,contact details for newly connected users, as well as information aboutcurrently connected users to a newly connected UE. Each UE willtherefore be able to have a list of all existing active users in a givengroup (for example), as well as their contact information. Whenever auser leaves the group, that is, disconnects from the network, hisinformation may be removed from the corresponding HLR and thesupplemental information may be similarly updated in all the remainingusers' UEs. Users would therefore conveniently and automatically benotified, for example, that emergency medical personnel have arrived ona scene, or are at least in the network and may be contacted on theirUEs.

FIG. 3 is a time-lined (time t) flow chart that illustrates one exampleof how the invention may be used. One scenario might be that anearthquake hits a large city and disables communications. A systemincorporating the structures and principles of the invention is thendeployed to the city to provide emergency communications. Emergencypersonnel arrive in the area and are issued mobile phones or other userequipment that can communicate over the same network. Each UE isassigned a specific role; as mentioned above, this may be by suitableencoding of its IMSI and/or MSISDN. The HLR will then contain role andgroup information associated with the UEs in addition to theconventional information stored in the HLR.

Assume further that one or more UEs (50-EX) are already registered andactive on the network and that a new UE (50-NEW) connects. FIG. 3illustrates the following sequence of events:

3-I: The new user (UE) 50-NEW connects to the network in the normalfashion. This is noted by the SSGN and MSC as in conventional systems.

3-II: The SSGN/MSC communicates to the supplemental information system200 that a new user has entered the network, for example by relaying thenew user's IMSI.

3-III: The supplemental information system 200 sends a request to theHLR 160 to retrieve the supplemental information about the newly entereduser, for example by submitting the IMSI.

3-IV: The HLR 160 returns the requested information to the supplementalinformation system 200.

3-V: The supplemental information system 200 sends an update to all thealready active, existing users 50-EX about the new user. Thisinformation may, as indicated above, be simply information identifyingthe new user, or may also include role and group, etc., information.Contact lists of each UE are then automatically updated with the newuser and his role.

3-VI: The supplemental information system 200 then (or at the same timeas 3-V) sends the list of active users and their roles to the new user50-NEW.

If a searcher then for example finds a trapped body, he can open thecontact list in his UE, which will list all currently active users,which may also be based on their roles in the ongoing activity.

As an alternative, if a standard UTMS system is being used, then usersmay enter the scene not with phones provided and provisioned by anissuing authority, but with their “own” phones, which can be accessedand updated using known protocols.

When a user leaves the network, the same basic procedures are followedas illustrated in FIG. 3, but instead of adding information andcommunicating information about the new user to other users, thecorresponding information is deleted and other users' contact lists areupdated with the exited user deleted. Of course, there will be no needto communicate supplemental information to the exiting user's UE at all,although as part of a sign-off protocol the exiting UE's contact listcould be deleted if desired or otherwise marked as being out-dated.

As mentioned above, the supplemental information system 200 may serveany number of communications systems 100-1, communications systems100-1, . . . , 100-2, . . . , 100-N, including only one. Inimplementations with more than communications system, however, if theseare linked by a network and communicate using any chosen protocol, thenthe HLRs can be synchronized such that all users in all systems will beable to access the same contact data. FIG. 4 illustrates thispossibility, in which a change in contact information stored in the HLR160-1 of a communications system 100-1 is transmitted (arrow 4-I) to theHLRs 160-2, . . . , 160-N of other communications systems 100-2, . . . ,100-N in the networked community. As arrow 4-II indicates, changes tothe HLR of any of the member systems, such as to HLKR 160-N ofcommunications system 100-N, can similarly be automatically propagatedto the other systems.

As skilled telecommunications engineers will realize, the mechanisms forupdating HLRs, for communicating information between internal systemcomponents, and between communications systems 100-1, . . . , 100-N andUEs and each other, may generally be implemented using existinghardware. Implementing the various aspects of the invention, however,will generally entail changes and additions to the programming code thatcontrols and directs the interaction between the SSGN/GGSN 115, 166 andthe HLRs 160. The supplemental information system 200 will in many casesinvolve a separate hardware unit, but may also be implemented as aprogramming change in an existing system such as a server, as long asprovision is made to receive and store the information to becommunicated among UEs.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A wireless, cellular voice networkincluding: at least one communications system and a plurality of userequipment (UE) devices, each connected to a respective current one ofthe communications systems, in which each communications system providescommunication between the UE devices; includes a service node thatstores data relating to an identity and a location of each UE deviceactively connected to the respective communications system; and includesa Home Location Register that stores primary information about each UEdevice actively connected to the system; and a supplemental informationsystem that receives supplemental data concerning each UE deviceactively connected to the one or more communications systems; causes theHome Location Register to store and augment the primary informationabout each UE device actively connected to the system with thesupplemental data about each actively connected UE device; andautomatically communicates the supplemental data stored in the HomeLocation Register or changes in the supplemental data to the activelyconnected UE devices.
 2. The network of claim 1, wherein: thecommunication systems are configured according to either the GlobalSystem for Mobile (GSM) standard, the General Packet Radio Services(GPRS), the 3G or the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)standard; and the UE devices are mobile telephones.
 3. The network ofclaim 2, wherein the node is a Serving GPRS Support Node.
 4. The networkof claim 1, wherein the supplemental data indicates entry into or exitfrom the network of any of the UE devices.
 5. The network of claim 1,wherein the supplemental data indicates a role performed by a user ofeach UE device.
 6. The network of claim 1, wherein the communicationssystem(s) is a transportable, distributed, cellular, wireless, WCDMA(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), self-contained, autonomousvoice network system.
 7. The network of claim 6, wherein thecommunications system(s) are operationally independent of but areconfigured to access and communicate over a Public Service TelephoneNetwork (PSTN), or an Internet Protocol Wide-Area Network (IP WAN), orboth.
 8. The network of claim 1, further comprising a supplementalinformation system with which each of the communications systems isconfigured to communicate, and which acquires the supplemental data fromany of the communications systems and propagates it to the othercommunications systems for inclusion in their respective Home LocationRegisters.
 9. A method for providing cellular voice communicationsbetween a plurality of users via respective user equipment (UE) devicesconnected to at least one communications system, in which eachcommunications system includes a service node that stores data relatingto an identity and a location of each UE device actively connected tothe respective communications system, and includes a Home LocationRegister that stores primary information about each UE device activelyconnected to the system, the method comprising: receiving and storingsupplemental data concerning each UE device actively connected to theone or more communications systems; augmenting the primary informationfor each UE in the Home Location Register with the respectivesupplemental data; and automatically communicating the supplemental datastored in the Home Location Register or changes in the supplementaldata, to the actively connected UE devices.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein: each communication system is configured as a transportable,distributed, cellular, wireless, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access),self-contained, autonomous voice network system; the UE devices aremobile telephones; and the supplemental data indicates entry into orexit from the network of any of the UE devices.
 11. The method of claim9, wherein: each communication system is configured as a transportable,distributed, cellular, wireless, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access),self-contained, autonomous voice network system; the UE devices aremobile telephones; and the supplemental data indicates a role performedby a user of each UE device.
 12. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising operating the communications system autonomously andindependent of any existing telephone network.
 13. The method of claim12, further comprising deploying and operating the communications systemwhen the existing telephone network is non-operational.
 14. A HomeLocation Register that includes a database that stores primaryinformation about each of a plurality of user equipment (UE) devicesactively connected to a respective current one of at least onecommunications system in a communications network, wherein the node isconfigured to: receive supplemental data concerning each UE deviceactively connected to the one or more communications systems; store andaugment the primary information about each UE device actively connectedto the system with the supplemental data about each actively connectedUE device; and provide for automatic communication to the activelyconnected UE devices the supplemental data stored in the database, orchanges in the supplemental data.
 15. The Home Location Register ofclaim 14, wherein: the UE devices are mobile telephones.
 16. The HomeLocation Register of claim 15, wherein the communication systems areconfigured according to either the Global System for Mobile (GSM)standard, the General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), the 3G or theUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard.
 17. The HomeLocation Register of claim 14, wherein the supplemental data indicatesentry into or exit from the communications network of any of the UEdevices.
 18. The Home Location Register of claim 14, wherein thesupplemental data indicates a role performed by a user of each UEdevice.